Blowin Smoke – April 2016

Well, a lot has happened since the January edition of “Blowin Smoke!” Our website and online store are complete…a great big thank you to Michell Stockman of Technow Solutions (if you need a new website or website redesign…she gets it!) for her incredible design work, and to Margie for her time helping Michell fine tune the online store. If you are reading this from Twitter, Facebook, or some other social media page, be sure to check us out at www.smokinghotcigars.com.
Our event schedule has exploded so if you want to come out and see us, be sure to go to the events schedule on our website to see where we will be.

In February we opened “Smoking Hot Cigars Lounge and Store” located at 112 Chesterfield Commons Rd-East, Chesterfield MO 63005, so you can have a place to physically shop and enjoy a smoke. We have lockers, a lounge stocked with mixers (you have to bring your own booze), and the same great service from our Smoking Hot Cigars Girls that you get in our mobile humidor. Be sure to check us out!

One of the awesome things we are experiencing now that we have a lounge and store is that our favorite reps can meet with us and keep us up to date on their products. As you may or may not know, our Smoking Hot Cigars Girls are not just pretty faces. We expect them to know cigars! Recently, we had Ben Pearson from Drew Estates in to do that type of training with our staff on his product lines. He will be conducting a tasting at the Smoking Hot Cigars Lounge and Store on April 14th. Be sure to make a reservation for you and any of your friends. You will learn a ton about their products and cigars in general.

Most anyone knows about the Liga Privada, Acid, and Tabak lines that Drew Estate has made their reputation on. I have sampled most of their stuff and have enjoyed it all. I remember when we first opened our account with Ben, he sent me a sample bag of all of their brands. There was one cigar that I sampled and found quite intriguing, yet quite frankly a bit unsure that I even wanted to smoke. It was the Kentucky Fire Cured 6×52 “Just a Friend” that he sent me. The wrapper on the cigar was a bit different with big block lettering and a civil war look. When I opened the wrapper and smelled the end of the cigar by holding it to my nose(the proper way to smell a cigar), I wasn’t sure if I was to smoke or eat it. It smelled like peppered beef jerky. But being a true lover of cigars and willing to try most anything, I cut it and lit that sucker up. I will confess, the first third of the cigar I was still wondering if I should keep going or snuff it out and go back to one of my standbys. There were so many flavors going on, pepper, cedar, sweet, and coffee. I chose to keep going because there was something interesting taking place. I had talked myself into not liking the cigar because of the interesting aroma out of the wrapper, but by time I got about half way through, I noticed my taste buds starting to want more of it. I’m not sure if it was the combination of hickory and maple flavors along with a creamy chocolate that started to take over, or just the fact that I let go of the beef jerky thoughts, but by time I got to the end of the cigar, the taste was really piling on. I noticed under the wrapper when I removed it, a different color to the wrapper, which partially explains the flavor change as I smoked through the cigar. The cigar burned perfectly with a salt and peppery colored ash that got to about an inch and a half before falling off. I was disappointed that there was not a second one in the bag. The next time I smoked this cigar, I started without any of my personal predispositions and really enjoyed even more than the first time.

I think this is a cigar that you should taste that is a little different. Don’t buy a box until you have smoked two. The first time to get past the beef jerky thought that I have now planted in your mind, and the second time to really enjoy it. This is the perfect cigar for that situation where you want something with a different flavor. It would be a great match for sitting out on your deck with a bourbon or scotch. We all have a friend that is always showing us a new cigar to try…the Kentucky Fire Cured is a great cigar to carry around and give to someone to try. They will appreciate it.

If you come to our tasting event, we will be sure to have some on hand for you to give a try!
That’s it for this edition. We hope to see you at one of our events or in the Lounge soon!
Until then…
Keep Blowin Smoke!